My adventures in NYC, you have to read it to believe it.

This Week’s Random NYC Observations

New Yorker’s love to share, in fact sometimes there is a little something called the over-share. If you have ever walked down a crowded Manhattan street stuck behind a woman in a heated conversation with her delinquent boyfriend you will know exactly what I am talking about. There is very little privacy in this city but that doesn’t mean that you have to share EVERYTHING. The bedrooms of our apartment look out into the various rooms of the apartments across from us. There is a small gap between the windows. Picture a U shape. An extremely tiny U shape. There really is only about a distance of 10 feet between the windows. Thus, the importance of CURTAINS. Especially, if the neighbour directly across from your (meaning our) bedroom has a very healthy porn habit and a HUGE computer monitor. Dude, I don’t care if you watch porn, but really, why don’t you get curtains? HE doesn’t seem to mind that every apartment building along our wall can watch him, watching porn. Ewww. I mean all I really want to do is open and close my window in peace. I guess if he doesn’t mind, I shouldn’t, right??

While I am on the topic of over-sharing I also learned this week that you should always tip your limo driver WELL. Yesterday, at a street corner I watched a woman exit a super -stretch white limo and proceed into a fancy, schmancy door man building. The driver who was still recovering from carrying in her numerous large travel bags proceeded back to the limo yelling “Hey everyone, Miss Rich Bitch just gave me a $7 tip, oooo… a whole $7, what could I possibly do with that much money??”. Yikes, I guess they didn’t teach that woman proper tipping etiquette at her private school OR the driver any tact in “limo driving 101”.

Hallowe’en is right around the corner. Apparently NYC takes this festivity extremely seriously. I guess this is the day where it is acceptable to be as crazy and outlandish as you want to be without any consequences. However, I am not really sure how this differs from the other days of the year 😉 In NYC Hallowe’en is definitely NOT just for kids, in fact, there seems to be more events for adults being advertised than for children. Costume shops are sprouting up all over the city. The other night on the way to yoga, I had a disturbing experience where a large gentlemen dressed as bunny tried to lure me into a store. It was definitely a “my mother told me never to take candy from strangers” moment.

Costumes for whom exactly??!!

The City of Ottawa could learn a thing or two from the road workers of New York. This week we have had to endure the re-paving of the street outside of our apartment. I say endure because they re-pave at night. Hear that Ottawa? In the middle of the night, so they do not have to disrupt millions of commuters during the day. So, needless to say, it has been a bit loud but hey, what’s one more thing to get used to listening to as you try and lull yourself to sleep at night? On the sleep note, I have learned that the city of New York DOES sleep. But only during the hours of 4:00 and 6:30 am. If you happen to find yourself awake at that time (damn bladder) it is actually very peaceful and almost eerily quiet.

The BEST thing that I found out about this week is that you can buy beer -to -go at Grand Central Station. So, if you are a commuter that takes the train, you can grab a beer and settle into your seat, pull our your book and casually sip away during the trip home. How incredibly civilized. It almost (ALMOST) makes me want to move out of the city 😉

I'll take two please...

Oh ya, that also means that I visited Grand Central Station on the way to go and see Ron at work. I absolutely LOVE this building and every time I walk in I am awestruck by its incredible beauty. It really is a wild experience to just stand there and let the people pass you. Everyone is on a journey to somewhere. No wonder soo many movies have been filmed in this amazing building.

Grand Central Station

I finally visited Ron’s office building this week and I have to say I am a little bit jealous. No wonder he loves his job and is happy at work. Who wouldn’t be want to come in and sit in an office with this view everyday?

Ron's view of the Chrysler Building

I have to admit I did have a “Holy F, I live in NYC” moment again this week. I was walking down the street and it just hit me out of no where. I am NOT visiting, this IS where I live. All the crazy adventures are mine to own. And hey, I might just be adding a little craziness of my own right back into the city. After all, I am the woman walking around taking random pictures and mumbling about the value of curtains. 😉

One of NYC most famous residents!

Enjoy the weekend! I wish all my Canadian friends a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

4 Responses

And just one more thought to add in light of the last photo … the office building I work in that Sandra took the picture from … it’s the Daily Planet. That’s right, I work in the Daily Planet; keeping on the lookout for a mild mannered reporter in glasses.